


How to Get a Guy to Fall for You

by allieyo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Humor, I'm so sorry, Kylo is super sassy in this im excited, Reader-Insert, We'll Get There Together, also i promise there is going to be smut, eventually, i'll add more as we go on, sorry there's not many tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-14
Packaged: 2018-05-25 06:02:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6183463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allieyo/pseuds/allieyo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You have a major crush on a certain General but your friends don't think you're capable of catching his attention on your own. So they decide to help you by following a how-to guide.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

You didn’t think it was obvious, despite what everyone else said. What did they know? Nothing, they knew absolutely nothing because despite the lack of evidence you were completely sure you were one of the most composed and secretive soldiers aboard the Finalizer.

It wasn’t your fault that he was always able to catch your attention whenever he walked into the room, or that you found it hard to concentrate on work when he was close by. Nor was it your fault that you had a horrible stutter whenever he addressed you, and you couldn’t help it when a noticeable blush would warm your cheeks when he gave you something akin to praise.

It wasn’t completely obvious at all that you had a huge and undeniable crush on General Hux.

You don’t remember exactly how or when it started. You often found yourself getting nervous whenever he was near you, yet excited at the same time because you were in his company. Then you started working harder than usual just to have him pleased with your work, his approval meaning much more now than it did when you first began. What made you truly realize that you liked the man was that every time you entered the command bridge you would, without thinking, begin to look around the room, hoping to spot him standing tall with his shoulders perfectly squared and arms behind his back, donned in that form-hugging, jet-black, General uniform. You absolutely loved how he wore that uniform.

Your named being yelled immediately snapped you out of your thoughts and you blinked at your friends that sat across you, their eyes boring into yours with slight annoyance. ‘That’s right,’ you thought to yourself, I’m in the cafeteria.’

“Are you done thinking about General Hux?” Cecil asked with a huff as he turned down and went back to eating his meal.

“I was not thinking about General Hux!” You piped, almost squeaking. You felt it, the unavoidable blush that rose to your cheeks whenever you spoke of him.

“Mmhm, and my name’s Kylo Ren.”

Cecil snorted, “Good one, Stella.”

You glared at your two friends, cheeks burning as you looked down at your own food. Grabbing your fork you stuck it into your meal, trying to think of something else besides General Hux. Stella and Cecil were both lucky that you cared about them enough to tolerate their constant teasing. They were the only people you had told about your crush on the General although they both insisted that they knew about it long before you told them. You figured it was because the three of you spent most of your time together and with General Hux since you all worked directly for him doing various tasks that he deemed too insignificant for him to do himself.

“As I was saying,” Stella spoke, clearing her throat as she set her spoon down. “Jayla definitely likes Cecil, right?” she asked, ignoring Cecil’s protests beside her.

Jayla was a computer technician that would often help around the bridge in case anything went haywire. She did seem to throw him a few flirty glances here and there, but you were pretty sure Cecil was too caught up in his work to even notice the poor girl. Although, wasn’t that also your relationship with the General?

“Yeah,” you replied and Cecil shot you a look that screamed ‘unbelievable.’

“She doesn’t!” he snarled and you simply shrugged, taking a bit of your food.

“Why are you so against it?” Jayla was cute and she seemed like a nice enough girl.

“I know!” Stella piped, not allowing Cecil to respond, “We should invite her to lunch!”

You nodded eagerly, knowing it would piss of Cecil more, you couldn’t help it, he was so funny when he got frustrated like this, and it was payback for teasing you earlier.

“Only if we get to invite the General as well,” he responded and you glowered at him. Upset because he was still teasing you, but also because that was a really good comeback.

“Good! Then I’ll steal them both from you two,” Stella smiled mischievously. You almost snorted at the thought. How could Stella steal the General from you when he wasn’t even ‘yours’ to begin with? Although, seeing her flirt with him would be very amusing and you almost agreed with the idea just to witness the General’s reaction as Stella giggles and lightly touches him.

The three of you continued to talk and joke around, enjoying your dinner. It was always nice to have time off, whenever you were on your shift there always seemed to be a huge weight on your shoulders, especially since you worked directly for General Hux. However, working for the General wasn’t nearly as terrifying as working for the leader of the Knights of Ren and you were thankful for that. At least with the General you knew right away if he was mad or upset, with Kylo Ren you would not sense a single of change of emotion until his lightsaber was out and hot, ready to smash the nearest machine. You were so thankful that within the three months you’ve been aboard the Finalizer you’ve only dealt with that man once.

Speaking of the man, the doors to the cafeteria flew open and you almost dropped your spoon in fear as Kylo Ren marched into the room, donned in his usual outfit that was like a cascade of black fabric. The entire cafeteria went quiet at the sight of the man and you found it kind of amazing that his presence could hush an entire room. He seemed to be in a slight hurry and you soon realized why when the familiar sight of swept back red hair caught your eye. The General was practically seething as he followed Kylo Ren back into the kitchens, yelling at the man to listen to him. It wasn’t unusual to see General Hux upset with something the Knight did, but it didn’t make it less perturbing every time.

Kylo Ren soon emerged from the kitchens, food in his hand and he calmly walked out of the cafeteria letting everyone finally relax. The General came out shortly after looking absolutely infuriated, his gloved hands clenched tightly into fists and you knew that Kylo did not listen to anything the General had said. He whipped his head around the cafeteria, as if he was looking for someone to yell at to let out his frustrations and from across the cafeteria he made direct eye contact with you.

You froze, his piercing gaze was enough to make you cease all movements. You started to internally panic, you hoped that one, he wasn’t going to come up with a reason to yell at you, and two, he couldn’t see the horrible burning blush that was definitely tinting your cheeks. You hated how you always blushed so easily. You were surprised that the General didn’t know you had a crush on him considering all the blushing you did whenever the two of you made eye contact or were within close proximity of each other. You stared back at your boss, offering him a small smile in hopes to ease his nerves. It must have done something for his shoulders relaxed and he unclenched his fists, nodding at you once before exiting the room to probably go and find Kylo Ren to yell at him some more.

Your eyes followed him as he left the room, the blush still on your face. Even though the General was a very intimidating, strict, and cold man you couldn’t help but let the affection you held for him grow. You liked how extremely dedicated and hardworking he was, it was incredibly admirable how much time and effort he put so the First Order could become one of the most prestigious military and political organizations in the galaxy. He didn’t hold the title of General lightly and always made sure everything was running smoothly and quickly eliminated problems (and people) to keep everything at optimal conditions. General Hux was certainly someone to be feared and yet here you were, with warm cheeks and butterflies in your stomach.

“Oh my goodness, (y/n)! You are so hopeless!”

You looked at Stella who looked like she was suffering second-hand embarrassment, Cecil who was beside her looked like he was trying so hard to control his laughter and you frowned at the two of them.

“Could you be any more obvious?”

“I am not obvious!”

Stella arched her eyebrow at you and you could feel the judgement in her gaze.

“(Y/n), everyone on this ship who even has an inkling of who you are knows that you have a crush on him. Why don’t you just screw the General and get it over with already?” Cecil offered and you shot him a glare.

“You guys are acting as if telling him that I like him is easy, like he’s just going to accept my feelings like that,” you said with a snap.

“He could,” Stella spoke, a wide coy smile slowly appearing on her face and you knew whatever she was thinking about it wasn’t going to be good.

She wiped her mouth with her napkin and turned around to grab her bag from the floor. Rummaging through it, she pulled out her data pad and tossed her bag away. Turning it on she looked very excited to find whatever it was that she was searching for. Cecil leaned over to peer at the datapad, interested in what Stella had in mind.

“The other day I found this article and I think it’ll be very beneficial to help you and your little problem.”  
“I don’t have a problem.”

Completely ignoring you she handed you her datapad and you sighed and took a look at the screen. You paused.

“Really? How to get a guy to like you? Stella!” you did not need help from a random how-to article that Stella found who knows where to get General Hux to accept your feelings. You practically shoved the device back into her arms and she pouted.

“Oh come on (y/n)! I already read through it and it makes some really good points, it should be super helpful!” 

Cecil who had been laughing the entire time since she mentioned the article started to finally calm down and he shook his head, wiping away a tear. “I agree,” he said with a chuckle, leaning back into his chair with a grin, “It’s like a step-by-step guide of what Stella and I already know, but just nicely written down, all ready for your convenience.”

“It’s not like you’re going into this alone. Cecil and I will help you through this and you’ll thank us by the end of the month when you’re getting pounded by that ginger General on his desk.” 

You highly doubt that. You sighed and started to think about their proposal. You felt incredibly silly, were you really going to use an article to help you get the General’s attention? It just seemed so odd and desperate. Did they not think you were capable of capturing General Hux’s affections on your own? Although, you realized, that you didn’t think you could do it on your own either. It would be nice if you could finally work up the courage to get the General to like you back, or to at least acknowledge your existence as someone more than just his assistant. It’s wasn’t like you were a shy person, you considered yourself pretty outgoing and you never had a problem holding a conversation with anyone. However, because you had a crush on the General it made it slightly harder to talk to him at times. Okay, who were you kidding, it made it extremely harder to talk to him (his usual cold demeanor didn’t help either). Also, he was your superior, having a relationship with him or anything akin to it would surely be against regulations and you knew how much the General treasured the rules. It was definitely going to be risky, you knew this since you formed a crush on him. However, just the thought of General Hux accepting and maybe even reciprocating your feelings was enough to make the butterflies in your stomach soar.  


It was worth a shot you decided, you had nothing to lose.

‘Except my dignity’ you thought to yourself, but quickly shook that thought away. No! You were going to do this!

“Alright,” you said with a sigh. Stella practically squealed and Cecil complimented you saying something about having a great go-to attitude.

“Don’t worry (y/n), soon you’ll have that man completely wrapped around your fingers! We’ll get started tomorrow-“

“Tomorrow?!”

“So we’ll meet here like we usually do for breakfast, but just an hour earlier!”

Great, you were already at risk of making a complete fool out of yourself in front of the General in now your future attempts to ‘woo’ him and you had to get up an hour earlier? You didn’t like this already and it hadn’t even begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! c: Just letting you know that this is not only my first Star Wars fic but it's also my first fic ever, so hopefully it's okay. 
> 
> About the posting schedule i'm in college right now so i'm going to try to post at least once a week, by the end of each week. I already started on the other chapters because I KNOW how I am and how my schedule is so at least those will definitely be on time! ^^


	2. Step One: Get To Know Him

 

               You smiled as you entered the cafeteria an hour earlier than you usually did, Stella and Cecil both at the table already. It was mostly empty, not a lot of people got up this early and the unfortunate selection of people who usually had nightshifts were currently at work so you were able to get your breakfast quickly.

                As you sat down at the table, Stella smiled at you brightly and wasted no time putting her coffee down so she could grab the datapad in her bag. You sighed inwardly, still not believing you were actually going to do this. You were actually going to listen to Stella and Cecil. Well, most of it seemed like Stella’s idea and Cecil was just along for the ride. He was probably hoping that you were going to do something incredibly stupid in front of General Hux so that he could laugh and replay it in his head for the rest of your days.

                “Okay,” Stella spoke. Using her finger, she scrolled down the datapad, skimming the article that was supposed to help you with your so called ‘love problems.’ “It says here that the first step in getting a guy to like you is to get to know him, try talking to him or even try hanging out. He can’t even begin to like you if he doesn’t know who you are.”

                You couldn’t help yourself from scoffing, “Isn’t that obvious though?”

                “Well, yes, but come on, (y/n), when have you ever seriously talked to General Hux?” You were about to protest but she immediately responded with, “Besides about work,” and your mouth clamped shut.

                She was right, the only time you ever talked to General Hux was when he addressed you and it was usually a simple “Yes sir,” and nothing more. Sometimes you talked to him about an assignment he gave you, explaining to him the details if he asked, but he would usually take your work with a curt nod and leave to inspect it in privacy. You spent almost every hour every day with than man and the amount of times you had actually had a conversation with him could be counted on one hand.

                “Point taken,” you finally said, not looking her in the eye while you took a bite of your food.

                “ _Oh ho_.” Cecil was practically grinning from ear-to-ear as he looked at you. “Are you actually going to talk to General Hux? This is going to be so good,” he said, eyes sparkling with amusement as he looked at your now narrowed ones.

                “What?” you barked, “you think I can’t do it?”

                “Pfft, no, (y/n), I _know_ you can’t do it.”

                You were slightly offended. Just because you had never actually spoken to General Hux it didn’t mean you couldn’t.

                “You’re on,” you said, accepting the challenge as you downed the rest of your coffee and ate a bit more of your pastry. “I’ll show you, I’ll go talk to him right now.”

                Stella opened her mouth but you quickly cut her off. “And not about work.”

                She grinned, very pleased.

                Standing up, you went over to the garbage can to dump the remnants of your meal and set the tray aside with the others. Glancing behind you, you gave Stella and Cecil a cheeky smile as you exited the cafeteria to head to the bridge early. You knew General Hux always arrived before your intended shift; he was always at the bridge, his office, or his room, and rarely did he go anywhere else unless he was needed there.

                You supposed that was what came with the authority to command the entire ship. You figured he would be all over the place but then you realized if he was, then you’d be out of a job. It was your duty to help make sure the rest of the ship was running smoothly. You followed his orders as if you were an extension of his hardworking self and you did so with pride. You weren’t of high rank at all, if anything you were more of an assistant which technically made you one of the lowest of the low, but you were the one that had the privilege of working so close with the General.

                Although, you realized, not a lot of people would consider that a privilege at all.  

                You arrived at the doors to the bridge and you smiled innocently up at the two Stormtroopers who guarded the door. Quickly, you showed them the insignia on your uniform jacket along with your cylinders and the one on the right moved aside to key in the code, giving you access to the room.

                You knew the code of course. General Hux had given it to you when you first started working for him, but the door was always required to be guarded just in case people who weren’t supposed to know it came by. Walking past the two guards, you gave them a curt “Thank you” and they nodded in acknowledgement before they turned their head to face forward once again, continuing to intimidate anyone that walked by.

                You entered the room almost quietly, surveying around to see if the General was already there. Almost as if on cue, he emerged from his office that was adjoined to the room and you immediately shot up, straightening yourself so you could address him properly with a, “Good morning, Sir.”

                Your eyes met his and you had to suddenly think of other things to try and suppress the blush that was threatening to creep up into your cheeks. He raised a neat eyebrow at you, almost as if he was questioning why you were here so early, but he seemed to discard that thought as he nodded at you before walking over to the main computer.

                You slowly let out the breath you had been holding and quietly made your way over to your station. Sitting down in your swivel chair you made sure to do it slowly and carefully because you knew how much the squeaky sound these chairs tend to make irked him. You sighed to yourself in relief as the chair did not make a single noise and turned your head over to look at him.  

                His eyes were on the screen and you could see from your seat that his eyebrows were slightly furrowed, the tips of his mouth pointed downward in concentration. You knew what he was doing, the daily system check just to make sure everything on the ship was running smoothly. If he found a single thing even _slightly_ out of place he would yell for the nearest person who was capable to fix the problem to work at it until it was at optimal condition.

                It was quiet besides the low humming sounds of computers running and you figured, now, in an empty room right before busy hours, would be a good time to strike up a conversation with him. If you tried when you were on the clock he would definitely scold you for neglecting your work and you would not be having that. _It’s now or never,_ you thought to yourself, suddenly feeling slightly nervous. You shook your head, trying to calm your nerves. Remembering what had transpired in the cafeteria a few minutes prior you knew you could not back out now. You were not letting Cecil have the last laugh.  

                To prep yourself you did a few deep breathing exercises that you learned during your training.

                Breathe in.

                Breathe out.

                Breathe in.

                Breathe out.

                Breathe in.

                Breathe-

                Why were you so fucking nervous? Open your mouth!

                You did.

                Nothing.

                _Fuck!_

                You clamped your mouth closed, your heart beating fast now. You were making this more difficult than it should be, what was so hard about talking to him?

                You opened your mouth again to address him however you stuttered slightly in the process, held back by your fear of speaking to him, and you let out an awful sound that could not be considered a word, more like the sound a cat would make whenever they were about to cough out a hairball, and you just wanted to die right then and there.

                Face completely flushed, you whipped your head to look out the large window that displayed the front view of the ship and prayed that he did not hear whatever the hell that fucking was. ‘I’m an idiot! I’m an idiot! I’m a complete fucking idiot—”

                “(L/n)?”

                You wanted to scream.

                Slowly you turned to look at the General who was looking at you with mild curiosity. Did he think that you were addressing him? Well technically speaking you did, or, well, tried to, but apparently whatever sound that was it had gotten his attention.

                Now that you had it, however, what the hell were you going to say? You didn’t even think this through! Stella said that you had to get to know him but you were too terrified to ask him about his interests. Did he even have interests? Did he do other things besides work? There was something to ask but how would you even go about asking that, especially at this moment? It would be too random.

                _Think (y/n)! Think!_ There had been almost a thirty second pause between when he had said your name and now and you could tell that he was getting impatient.

                “J-Just uhm, h-how are you today, sir?” you blurted out and mentally scolded yourself. _That’s it? Just how are you today?_

                Whatever remained of the blush on your face was completely drained along with the rest of your blood when you saw him scowl. He looked away from you back down at the computer and, as if he had to take some time to consider what you said, finally responded with, “I am fine.”

                Relief washed over you like a wave and you smiled at him even though he wasn’t looking. _Yes!_ You did a mental fist pump and bit your lip to try and stop the wide smile that wanted to spread across your face. Others may have thought that your little victory was stupid, but they had never tried speaking to General Hux, especially when they were of lower rank. The only thing that General Hux said to subordinates were orders and nothing more so this was practically a milestone in accomplishments.

                “What’s on your schedule for today, (L/n)?”

                “Good!”

                He paused. “What?”

                You were ready to march over to Kylo Ren’s room, grab his lightsaber, place it firmly on the floor, and then proceed to fall onto it. _SHIT!_ you screamed in your head. You had been thinking— no, you weren’t even fucking thinking at all. You were so used to people responding to ‘How are you’s with ‘How are you’s of their own that you already had an automatic ‘good’ as a response. But of course you had failed to realize that General Hux was not one to particularly care about the well-being of others so of course he would jump right into work rather than ask how you are.

                “I-I mean, it’s good! It’s all good! It’s a really good schedule,” you laughed awkwardly, trying to play your mistake off. The look that he gave you said ‘it better be’ and you quickly grabbed your clipboard on your desk that held the paper with your schedule and made your way over to him.

                As you were showing him your tasks to do for the day, the door to the room opened and slowly people began to pour in. You noticed Stella and Cecil enter in the corner of your eye and you had to hold back the fuming anger you felt when you saw them wink mischievously, pointing at you before they started to pretend to smack the General’s ass.

                “What are you looking at?” General Hux snapped and you quickly adverted your gaze back to him, apologizing.

                The sound of Stella and Cecil stifling their laughter was almost annoying enough to make you break your clipboard. However, the fear of General Hux getting angry at you again was far greater, so you simply did your best to ignore them.

                “I want you to work on the report about the new systems we had installed and I want it done by the end of the day,” he said in his most authoritative tone, handing you back your schedule. You nodded meekly, clutching your clipboard close to your chest like a protective shield before returning back to your station.

                Stella was already seated at her desk which was the one directly beside yours. She had been already working on her daily task but she swiveled her chair to face you, a wide grin on her face. Your first thought was that she was lucky that it was loud enough in the room that the General did not hear the high pitched squeak that came from her chair and you sat down quietly in your own seat.

                “So,” she sang, “how did it go?”

                “How did what go?” you asked, playing dumb as you turned to face your computer so you could start on the report.

                She tsked, “You know exactly what, (y/n)! Did you talk to General Hux or not?”

                Should you tell her? You didn’t want to, you knew she was going to laugh and it was going to be a loud one. Glancing at her in the corner of your eye you saw her looking at you expectantly with a pout on her lips and you sighed, giving in to the peer pressure.

                “I did,” you said slowly, not looking at her while you continued to look at the data you needed for the report.

                “But?” she asked.

                “But…” you said, drawling out the ‘but’. “I kinda…fucked up…”

                “Fucked up how?” Her eyes widened and she turned abruptly in her chair to look back at her computer to continue, or at least pretend to continue, her task. You already knew what had startled her, and you focused on your work as you heard the sound of heavy boots pace behind you.

                You felt a chill go up your spine, goosebumps appearing on your skin as you felt his presence right behind your back. General Hux often checked up on his subordinates and it was always so terrifying to have him evaluate you and your work. You knew if he found anything that he deemed even slightly wrong you would get scolded for it. He prided his assistants, aka you, Stella, and Cecil, with your abilities to perform your duties with above average results and you never wanted to let him down. It felt like he was behind you for an eternity before he moved on to look at Stella’s work. You relaxed, releasing the tension from your muscles and continued to type until General Hux left Stella alone.

                You both checked to see that he was no longer paying attention to the two of you before Stella turned to face you again, repeating her question like nothing had happened. You often wondered if Stella was just as scared of General Hux as everyone else. He and his intimidating aura never seemed to truly phase her.

                “Well,” you began slowly. “I asked him how he was.”

                She raised an eyebrow. “That’s it?”

                “Hey! This is a big accomplishment for me, you try asking how General Hux is!”

                “I do! Practically every morning! Please tell me it’s not hard for you to say ‘Good morning, General! How are you on this fine day?’”

                She had a point. You sighed, hiding your face in your hands. “And then, he asked me what was on my schedule today, and I replied with ‘good’!”

                “PFFT!” Stella practically snorted, covering her mouth so it wouldn’t alert General Hux, who was still making his rounds. “Oh my goodness!” She was trying so hard to keep her laugh in, the back of her hand covering her mouth as she looked away from you. Rolling your eyes, you groaned and waited for to finish laughing.

                After what felt like minutes (it wasn’t _that_ funny!) Stella finally calmed down, still occasionally chuckling at your expense.

                “Mm, okay, smooth operator, I know you’ve made,” she paused, trying to find the right words, “your version of progress. But you’re going to have to talk to him about more than how his day is going. The article said get to know him which includes interests and other stuff, like his birthday, or his favorite color.”

                “I can’t do that,” you replied immediately. It was already so hard for you to even say ‘Hello’ to the man, how were you going to ask him about what he liked? Or what his favorite color was? General Hux looked like a man who didn’t have a favorite color.

                “Don’t you want to be his friend?” she asked and you immediately nodded. “Good, you’ll be the first then.”

                “Stella!”

                She giggled, amused at her own joke. “I know it’s going to be hard– especially for you. But if you want to get into his pants then you’re going to have to get into his interests.”

                “I’m not even sure if General Hux has any interests…besides his work.” At least from what you’ve seen of him. You did spend most of your time with him – it was hard not to since he was your boss – and you were pretty sure the only things he did were work, eat, or sleep. Honestly, it wouldn’t even be a surprise to you if he somehow made it so he didn’t need to use the bathroom so he could have more time working. That man was a grade A workaholic.

                Stella sighed, learning back into her chair she ran her fingers through her golden brown locks. _Oh no,_ you thought, _she’s getting serious._ You always knew when Stella was in deep concentration because she would played with her hair.

                “Oh!” She sat up suddenly, her pointer finger in the air. “ _Kylo Ren_! You can bond with General Hux over how much you dislike Kylo Ren!”

                You were confused.

                “But I don’t dislike Kylo Ren.” You were just completely terrified of him. There was a difference.

                “General Hux doesn’t need to know that,” she said, wriggling her eyebrows.

                “Stella, no.”

                “Listen to me, (y/n), you’re never going to get anywhere with General Hux if you don’t toughen up and start getting to know him! If you really want him to acknowledge you and your feelings then you’re going to have to put in some effort. Plus, I’m pretty sure he’d appreciate having someone to bitch about the Commander to, considering he doesn’t have any friends.”

                You glared at her for adding that last bit, but then you sighed, silently admitting she was right (not about him not having friends though, you were sure there was at least a select few the General was willing to a call friends). It wasn’t like you didn’t want to know more about him, you wanted to learn everything about him. He was such an enigma, always hidden behind that cold and collect exterior of his. You often wondered what the man was like during his down time when no one was watching.

                “Alright, I’ll try,” you said and she smiled, satisfied with your answer. The two of you continued working diligently on your assignments until the General finally excused you, Stella, and Cecil for lunch.  

                “I have something to tell you!” Stella practically squealed as she caught up to Cecil who was leaving the room.

                “Oh no! Stella please no!” you begged. She shot you a grin. Cecil looked so excited, knowing it was about you.

                “(L/n)!” You froze, and so did Stella and Cecil. Turning around you looked at General Hux, who motioned to his office with his head. “A moment, if you please.”

                You nodded, looking at your friends briefly. They gave you comforting smiles, which you returned, before following the General. You entered his office silently and nervously and he told you to close the door. Turning around, you looked at him. He was seated at his desk, elbows placed on the cool surface as he stared at you behind folded hands. You always seemed to shrink under his gaze and you shyly approached him. Although his office was a large room there was a limited amount of furniture: just a chair, desk, and a couple of bookshelves. General Hux was always good at keeping everything neat and organized so he didn’t need much storage. The books on the shelves were in alphabetical order and so were the files in his desk, some were even categorized by topics and priority. It was quite impressive.

                “Yes, sir?” you asked. He hadn’t said anything since you entered the room and it was making you feel a bit uneasy. You wanted to do something like play with your hair or your blouse to ease your nerves but you knew he didn’t like it when you showed any signs of discomfort like that. You worked for the First Order, nothing was supposed to phase you, at least not on the surface.

                “You were early to work this morning.” It was a statement but the way he said it sounded almost like a question, as if he was asking why.

                “Oh, ah ha, I just wanted to get a head start on my work! You know what they say, the early bird catches the worm!” you said with an awkward laugh. You knew General Hux was more perceptive than to fall for your lie but you were hoping he would confuse it with you just being nervous. You didn’t want to lie to him but you couldn’t tell him the truth either! You knew he wouldn’t take kindly to ‘I came here early because I’m trying to get you to fall in love with me, is it working?’

                He seemed to accept your answer and he leaned back into his chair, his pale blue eyes boring into yours. Your heart started to beat faster and you almost sighed in relief when he broke his gaze and shifted in his seat so he could pull open one of the drawers in his desk better. Pulling out a manila folder, he placed it on his desk.

                “We shall be receiving new soldiers tomorrow, this batch much larger than the previous ones. I need assistance monitoring them,” he said as he slid the manila folder over to your edge of the desk, a slight smirk tugging on the corners of his lips. “I am so pleased you decided to volunteer.”

                You felt your stomach churn and you nodded gingerly, grabbing the folder. This is what you get for coming in early?

                “Make sure you read all the papers carefully, there are several items we shall be assessing them in and you need to pay close attention to all of them. I will not have a weak link amongst the ranks.”

                “Yes, sir.”

                He dismissed you and you turned to leave, but you stopped when you saw him sigh, closing his eyes before he rubbed his face with his gloved hands. His fingers then moved to slowly massage his temples and it was then you knew he was either stressed or he suffering from a headache, or both.

                “Sir?” you asked and he opened his eyes.

                “Is there a reason you are still here, (L/n)?”

                You shuffled your feet nervously, rubbing your arm.

                “U-uhm, are you o-okay, sir?” you asked. It was easier to talk to him when you were more concerned about him and his wellbeing than making a fool out of yourself.

                You didn’t think he was going to answer you. You were so sure he was going to tell you that whatever was troubling him was none of your concern and that you should leave. So imagine your surprise when he told you that it was ‘Kylo Ren, once again’.  As if you had touched a sensitive topic, he started spewing complaints about the man, about how incompetent and stubborn he was and about how he was always putting his own personal reasons before the First Order.

                _This is my chance!_ you realized as he continued to bash Kylo Ren. He already started talking about the man, all you had to do was basically agree with everything he was saying! Also, you realized that he must have at least trusted you enough to start venting and you almost had to stop yourself from jumping up and down excitedly.

                “If I may, sir,” you spoke, and he paused mid rant to look at you.

                “H-He does seem like a…very stubborn person…” you spoke slowly and carefully, afraid that speaking badly about Kylo Ren would be disrespectful. Well, it was disrespectful, but it was whether or not General Hux cared about you being disrespectful toward him that mattered.

                “Precisely!” He sounded so relieved, like this was the first time he’d ever made a connection with someone. It felt so nice, so wonderful for General Hux to agree with you and open up to you like this, that you couldn’t stop yourself from talking.

                “A-And c-childish, at times.”

                “All the time, you mean.”

                “Also, I d-don’t think he should be releasing his anger by breaking our machinery.”

                “You wouldn’t believe the migraines I get when looking at the collateral damages.”

                “A-And he seems so self-centered, and arrogant, and scary, and gosh, would it kill him to be not so menacing all the time? And to take his anger out on us employees is so unprofessional and disrespectful, and I know we may not have the same rank as him but it doesn’t mean he has the right to treat us like we’re ants that he can just step on! And another thing-“

                Your breath hitched when you saw General Hux shift his gaze from you to behind your shoulder and you knew immediately what was going on. Your fears were confirmed when the General narrowed his eyes and spoke.

                “Ren,” he sneered. You wanted to cry.

                The Knight’s deep modulated voice replied with a, ‘General’ behind you and you realized that you didn’t need to sneak into Kylo Ren’s room to impale yourself on his lightsaber. _Kylo Ren was going to do it himself_.

                You had been so caught up in ranting to General Hux that you hadn’t realize the door opening or the Knight stepping in. He definitely heard what you had said, how could he not? You could also tell from the mood radiating off the man that he was not too happy. You had to leave– there was no way you were going to stay there any minute longer. You didn’t want to risk General Hux seeing your imminent demise. You bid a farewell to the General and did the same to Kylo Ren, muttering, ‘Commander’ in the most pitiful tone before you practically sprinted out of General Hux’s office.

                You spent the remainder of your day absolutely terrified. You had skipped lunch, too busy looking over your shoulder or slowly creeping your way down hallways to have an appetite. The only place you felt somewhat safe was at the bridge where you could at least hide under your desk in case the Knight entered the room. Also the General would be there and you hoped that he would, hopefully, _try_ to stop Kylo Ren from murdering you, but he couldn’t be counted on completely.

                At the very least, you were able to complete your assignment and you turned it to General Hux, who excused you for the remainder of the day. Closing the door to his office, you sighed. You were exhausted and you wanted nothing more than to sleep. The sound of your stomach growling begged to differ and you decided that you would have a quick meal before retiring to your room. You left the bridge and started to head to the nearest cafeteria, which happened to be the one that you usually ate at with your friends. You wished you had their company with you, but unfortunately they were still working on their assignments so you were just going to have to eat alone.

                By the time you reached the cafeteria you had completely forgotten about the whole mess with Kylo Ren, nothing else on your mind besides feeding your empty stomach. The cafeteria was busy around this time and you had to wait in line behind a mix of officers and Stormtroopers to receive your meal. You muttered a small, ‘excuse me’ as you walked past a Stormtrooper who was taking his time deciding what to eat and grabbed a tray with a simple sandwich and a bottle of juice, before walking over to an empty table. It sometimes made you a bit nervous being surrounded by these higher-ups. You still didn’t fully understand where you were on the chain of importance, but you were probably not too high. Yes, you worked for General Hux, but you were sure the General could easily discard you and find another assistant. It wasn’t _that_ hard to do paperwork.

                The entire room suddenly roared into laughter and you stopped, looking around. Why was everyone laughing? As if to answer your question you felt something cold slide down your face. You touched it immediately and you pulled your hand away, looking at your fingers they were purple and sticky and you sighed. Your bottle of juice was completely crumpled, caved in on your tray and juice was everywhere. It was on your face, your neck, your uniform blouse— you were so thankful it was black so it wasn’t too obvious, but everyone could still see that your entire neckline was soaked.

                “Okay,” you spoke slowly, “I deserved that.”

                You turned around and saw Kylo Ren leaning against a wall, tossing an apple into the air. His head was turned towards you and you couldn’t see his face but you could tell he was smirking underneath his mask. Your entire face was completely hot and red with embarrassment. You knew you had this coming, it was only a matter of time before Kylo Ren got you back for disrespecting him. You didn’t think it was going to be this humiliating, however, and you wanted to do nothing more than to crawl into your bed and hide under all of your blankets.

                 Without warning your arm was grabbed, and you turned to see General Hux glowering at you. Your eyes widened and you flinched as he harshly took the tray from you. He tossed it onto the nearest table, the item making a loud noise that caused several people to jump as it collided with the surface. Yanking your arm he practically dragging you towards the exit. The laughter in the room had died down now, everyone scared of the General’s sudden and angry appearance. As you both left the room you saw him shoot a glare towards Kylo Ren, showing the Knight he fully understood that this incident was his doing. Once again, even though you couldn’t see him, you knew that Kylo Ren was smirking underneath that mask.

                The General hauled you out into the hallway, letting go of your arm. You would have almost hit the wall if you hadn’t caught your balance. General Hux shut the doors behind him before turning to face you. As usual he was standing in his amazing posture: back straight, shoulders squared, and arms behind his back. It was his signature General pose and you knew you were about to get scolded.

                _Today was just a horrible day,_ you thought miserably as you looked into the General’s cold pale blue eyes. You didn’t know what to say, what could you say? Should you thank him? That seemed like the most obvious choice and yet you still felt that wasn’t right so instead you settled with murmuring a pitiful, “I’m sorry.”

                The General stared at you, hard, and it felt like eternity under his scrutiny. He eventually sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples. You started to feel bad, thinking that you gave him another migraine. You did not want to be lumped into the group of people that gave General Hux headaches. He reached into his greatcoat around his shoulders and you were slightly scared he was going to pull out his blaster, but were soon relieved when it was nothing more than a handkerchief.

                “Come here,” he ordered and you quickly complied. You stood in front of the General with your shoulders back and arms at your side as you looked up at him with a dejected expression. You were surprised when he started to wipe off the excess juice on your face, using the handkerchief. You were quiet as he continued to try and get you slightly cleaned up. The blush on your face was completely evident, but you didn’t care at this point.

                “Do not mind Ren, he simply doesn’t understand that not everyone on this ship has to like him,” General Hux spoke, breaking the silence. You didn’t know how to reply to that so you simply stood still. You didn’t want to tell the General that you didn’t dislike Kylo Ren and that you had only said those things just to try and bond (in a weird way) with him. Your face was still sticky but it was much better than it was before and you thanked him for helping you. The General scoffed at your comment as if he was showing you disdain but then gently grabbed your hand to place the now dirty handkerchief in it, telling you to keep the item.

                “(L/n),” he said in his usual commanding tone while looking you in the eyes, “you are my assistant, and being my assistant means you are an extension of me. If you make a fool out of yourself then you make a fool out of me, _do not_ let another incident like this be repeated, do I make myself clear?”

                “Yes, sir,” you gulped, nodding sorrowfully as your eyes trailed to look down to the ground. The General opened his mouth to speak again but the sound of your stomach growling caused him to pause. Your hands flung to your stomach, as if trying to soothe its hunger and you started sputtering more apologies, completely embarrassed. You didn’t know what to do, you were so hungry, but you dare not enter the cafeteria again, especially since Kylo Ren was definitely still in there.

                As if reading your mind the General told you to stay there before entering the cafeteria with an annoyed sigh. He came back a few minutes later, a wrapped sandwich in his hand, which he handed to you.

                “Eat and then get some rest. Report to the bridge at the same time you arrived today for we shall begin our assessment of the new soldiers. And make sure you read the file.” He took off after that and you turned your head to watch as he walked away from you down the hallway.

                “Th-Thank you, General!” you called out and after a couple of seconds he raised his hand in acknowledgement, before turning a corner, his great coat flowing behind him.

                Looking down at the sandwich and dirty handkerchief in your hand, you smiled. Maybe this whole thing wouldn’t be so bad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PHEW! ^^' 
> 
> This chapter turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated LOL. Anyways, I hope you guys like it and hopefully it wasn't too long ^^' 
> 
> I was finally able to figure out AO3's posting chapter-thingy whatever and so the format is much better in this chapter than the first. Now that I know how to work this thing i'll go back and fix Chapter One ^^
> 
> Fun fact: The moment with General Hux and the reader when he asked her what was on her schedule and she had replied with "Good!" has happened to me, and it is as embarrassing as it sounds.


End file.
